Impact tong and spinner



A. l.. sToNE 25,566,999

IMPACT TONG AND SPINNER Sept. 4, 1951 FI e. 1.

HIVEHTOR.

Sept 4, 1951 l A. L. STONE 2,566,999

IMPACT TONG AND SPINNER Filed March 30. 1949 '5 Sheets-Smet 2 nwswmmf Sep 4, 1951 A. L.. STONE Y 2,566,999

IMPACT TONG AND SPINNER Filed March 30. 1949 3 Shees-Sheet 5 Patented Sept. 4, 1951 IMPACT TONG AND SPINNER Albert L. Stone, Redondo Beach, Calif., asslgnor,

by mesne assignments, to Standard Oil Development Company, Elizabeth, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Application March 30, 1949, Serial No. 84,437

(Cl. Z55-35) 3 Claims.

The present invention is directed to a device adapted for disconnecting members connected by screw joints.

It is ofttimes necessary or desirable to disconnect members held together by screw thread joints. As an example, in the drilling of deep bore-holes, such as oil and gas wells, it is fre-I quently necessary to disconnect a long drill stem or string of tubing made up of individual sections connected together by screw joints. Similarly, in making up strings of drill pipe and strings of tubing, it is necessary to connect a number of sections together by screw threads.

It is an object of the present application to provide an improved devicev for connecting tubular members which are provided with screw thread joints. More specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide a device capable of tonging and spinning members whereby such members are readily connected or disconnected by screw thread joints.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention may be seen from the following description taken With the drawing in which Fig. 1 is a top View with parts broken away showing an embodiment of the invention with parts in position for adding a section of pipe to a drill stem;

Fig. 2 is a View along line II-II of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary view taken along line lII-III of Fig. 1;

.Fig 4 is a top view with parts broken away, of the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2, but with contacting portions away from the tool joint, that is to say. with the device in open or disengaged position; and

Fig. 5 is a top view of the device of the preceding iigures but inverted, showing the parts in the position for removing a section of pipe from the drill stem.

In the drawing principal partsv or assemblies are designated by letters and portions of such principal parts or assemblies are designated by numbers'.

which may be accomplished by rotating frame A about bearing II through an angle of the parts of the assembly are placed in the position shown in Fig. 5 for disconnecting or breaking out joints of pipe without additional change in the assembly. It will be noted that column B is shown is a simplified form in the drawing since the column in and of itself forms no part of the invention. Preferably a suitable hydraulic packing means (not shown in the drawing) is attached to column B in order to allow frame A to be raised or lowered as desired.

Prime mover C may be any suitable motor. In the drawing, it is shown as a compressed air motor supplied from air compressorE from mani- -fold I to which for normal rotation it is connected by air line 8 controlled by hand operated valve 9, and for reverse operation is connected by air line 8' controlled by hand operated valve 9.

Rotatable assembly D consists of a body member I2 mounted on bearing I3 for rotation with respect to frame A. Prime mover C is arranged to rotate a pinion gear 6 which, in turn, rotates gear I4 secured to shaft I5 which is mounted on frame A by bearings IG and I1. Sprockets I8 and I9 are Xed to shaft I5 for rotation with gear III. Rotatable member D is provided with large diameter sprocket members 20 and 2l. Chains 22 and 23 are arranged to transmit the power from sprocket I8 to sprocket 20 and sprocket I9 to sprocket 2 I, respectively.

Mounted on rotatable member D are hammer assemblies F, G and H. These hammer assem blies may be made up of identical parts and, accordingly, such parts have been identified by like reference numbers.

For convenience, hammer assembly F will be `described in detail since this assembly is exposed to view in Fig. 1. Hammer assembly F consists of an air hammer 30 which may be of a conventional type and for that reason the parts thereof are not shown in detail. Details of construction of devices suitable for use as air hammer 35 are shown in U. S. Patent 1,460,272 Rehield and U. S. Patent 1,605,865 Stevens. The body of hammer 30 is connected to frame I2 by link 3| which is secured to the hammer by pin 32 and to body I2 by pin 33. A wedge member 3ft is secured to the body of hammer 35 by link 36 formed integral with the wedge member by means of pin 31. Hammer assembly F is conventional and is provided with a vibrating piston, not shown in the drawing. adapted to strike a series of blows on free floating anvil 35. Anvil 35 defines a striking surface 35 for striking surface 34 of Wedge member 34. Wedge member 34 defines a slanting face 38 provided with teeth 39 and a smooth face 40 having outwardly extending shoulders or prongs 4| and 42 at the ends thereof. That part of body member i2 which is adjacent surface 49 defines a parallel surface 43 which serves as a guide for wedge member 34, frictional contact between Wedge member 34 and surface 43 being reduced by roller assembly 45. Runners 46, which fit into grooves 41 of wedge member 34 and grooves 48 of body I2, also serve to guide the wedge 34. Sprocket members 2U and 2| have slots 49 to receive the ends of pins 32 so that each link 3| may pivot about its respective pin 33.

Compressed air for operating air hammer 39 is obtained from air compressor E which is connected through manifold i, air hose 5|] controlled by hand operated valve 5l and tting 52 to frame A. Frame A defines an annular groove 53 in uid communication with fitting 52. Body I2 denes an annular groove 54 which is in communication with groove 53 and cooperates therewith to form a conduit, with packing 35 preventing the escape of compressed air from this conduit. A tting 5B and air hose 5? connects body 3B of each assembly F, G and H with the compressed air passage dened by grooves 53 and 54. In this manner the air hammers 39 of the assemblies F. G and H are provided with air from compressor E while they are being rotated with respect to frame A.

The operation of the device will now be described. When the device is to be used lor adding a section of pipe to a drill stein, the hand operated valves 9, 9 and 5| will initially be closed. This allows the wedge members 34 of assemblies F, G and H to assume the open or disengaged position shown in Fig. 4. With wedge members 34 in the open position, the device may be slipped over the upper end of the drill stem and held at this point while the screw thread at the lower end of a new section of pipe is stabbed on the upper end of the drill stem. Frame A is then moved upwardly (by raising the portion of column B on which frame A is mounted) until wedge members 34 are adjacent the tool joint of the added section. Hand valve 9 controlling prime movei C is then opened. When prime mover C begins to rotate, this rotary movement is iirst transmitted to sprockets 26 and 2| while body I2 remains stationary. The arcuate movement is transmit- `ted from sprockets 20 and 2| to pins 32 of hammer assemblies F, G and H which, in turn, causes link 3| of each of these assemblies to pivot around pin 33 and this arcuate movement is translated to straight line movement with wedge member 34 of each hammer assembly moving on roller assembly 45 along surface 43 until its face 38 engages withthe pipe. When the wedge members 34 have engaged with the pipe the sprockets 2B and 2| on body I2 and hammer assemblies F, G and H will rotate as a unit until the joint becomes tight enough to stall the prime mover C. After the prime mover C stalls, valve 9 is left open and hand valve 5| is opened which starts the air hammer units F, G and H vibrating. When air is supplied to these hammer units the hammer blow is between the mandril 35 and surface 34 of the wedge member so that none of the hammering force is transmitted through pin 3'| nor clevis 36. The hammer units F, G and H need to operate only a short time, say of the order of one second, in order to make up the joint tightly. The device may then be disengaged by closing valves 9 and 5| and opening valve 9' to reverse prime mover C which, in turn, allows the sprockets 20 and 2| to pull back the pins 32 of hammer assemblies F, G and H so that these hammer assemblies assume the positions shown in Fig. 4. Valve 9 is then closed, stopping rotation. The drill stem is then lifted through the device guided by the opening in body |2, and the device is then removed from the drill stem.

If the device is to be used for removing a section of pipe, it is bodily inverted which may be accomplished by rotating it on bearing so that it assumes the position shown in Fig. 5. The device is placed with jaw members 34 adjacent the end of the joint to be removed from the drill stem. Valve 9 is then opened to start prime mover C which rotates sprockets 29 and 2| and which, in turn, pull the pins 32 of hammer assemblies F, G and H arcuately so that wedge members 34 of these assemblies engage with the section of pipe. Since the pipe joint is tight, this immediately causes prime mover C to stall. Hand operated valve 5| is then opened, causing the hammer assemblies F, G and H to operate while the torque is being exerted on the wedge members 34 by prime mover C. The combined eiTect of the hammering and torque quickly causes the joint to break, at which time the power exerted by prime mover C is in itself sufcient to spin the pipe. As the pipe begins to spin, hand operated valve5|' is closed and the remainder of the spinning is done by prime mover C. After the joint has been spun out, valve 9 is closed. The device may be disengaged from the pipe by opening valve 9 momentarily to reverse the direction of rotation of prime. mover C momentarily which causes the jaws 34 of hammer assemblies F, G and H to assume a position corresponding to that shown in Fig. 4.

While I have shown prime mover C as operated by compressed air, it will be obvious that other types of prime movers, such as an electrical or hydraulic motor, may be used. Similarly, it will be obvious to a workman skilled in the art that various changes of the sizes, shapes and proportions may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

What I wish to claim as new and useful and to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A device for making up and breaking out screw joints joining one pipe with another comprising, in combination, a frame member dening an opening, a rotatable member mounted on said frame member for rotation and defining an opening at its axis of rotation for embracing a section of pipe and concentric with the opening defined by said frame, an impact-producing means including an air hammer pivotally mounted on said rotatable member, a wedge-shaped impact body movably mounted on said rotatable body arranged to receive blows from said air hammer, means arranged in contact with said wedgeshaped impact body and said rotatable body to guide said impact body along a path lying in a plane parallel to the axis of the section of pipeI embraced by said rotatable member, a prime mover mounted on the frame and means including the means pivotally mounting the air hammer on the rotatable member interconnected between said prime mover and said rotatable member for rotating the latter.

2. A combined tong and spinner for making up and disconnecting sections of pipe connected by screw thread joints comprising, in combination, a frame member dening an opening, a rotatable member mounted on said frame for rotation and defining an opening at its axis of rotation for embracing a section of pipe and concentric with the opening defined by said frame, a surface forming a part of the boundary of the opening of the rotatable member lying in a plane parallel to the axis of a section of pipe embraced thereby, an annular member rotatably and concentrically mounted on said rotatable member, an air hammer having a body portion, a reciprocating piston and an anvil member, a Wedge-shaped impact body having an impact receiving surface, said wedge-shaped impact body being slidably mounted on said rotatable member and having one surface adjacent to and parallel to said surface forming a portion of the boundary of the opening of said rotatable member, means arranged in contact with said impact body and said rotatable body to guide said body along said surface, a pivot member securing said wedgeshaped impact body to the body of said air hammer with its impact receiving surface arranged to receive impacts from said anvil member, a link, a pin pivotally securing one end of the link to the body of the air hammer and to said annulus member, a pin pivotally securing the other end of the link to said rotatable member, a reversible motor mounted on the frame, and means including said annulus member, said pins and said link interconnected between said motor and said rotatable member for rotating the latter.

3. A combined tong and spinner for making up and disconnecting sections of pipe connected by screw thread joints comprising, in combination, a frame member defining an opening, a rotatable member mounted on said frame member for rotation and defining an opening at its axis of rotation for embracing a section of pipe and concentric with the opening dened by said frame surfaces forming parts of the boundary of the opening of the rotatable member each lying in a. plane parallel to the axis of a section of pipe embraced thereby, an annulus rotatably and concentrically mounted on said rotatable member, air hammers each having a body portion, a reciprocating piston and an anvil member, Wedge-shaped impact bodies each having an impact-receiving surface, the air hammers and impact bodies corresponding in number to said surfaces, a separate means arranged to contact each of said impact bodies and said rotatable body to guide each of said bodies along a corresponding surface, links corresponding in number to said wedge-shaped impact bodies, a separate pin member pivotally securing each of said wedgeshaped impact bodies to the body of an air hammer with the impact-receiving surface of the Wedge body arranged to receive impact from the anvil member of the air hammer, a separate pivot member pivotally securing one end of each of the links to the body of one of the air hammers and to the body of said annulus member, a separate pivot member securing the other end of each of said links to said rotatable member, a reversible motor mounted on the frame and meansl including said annulus member, said pins and said links interconnected between said motor and said rotatable member for rotating the latter.

ALBERT L. STONE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 614,333 McCready Nov. 15, 1898 1,300,995 Moody Apr. 15, 1919 1,811,666 Foster June 23, 1931 2,181,641 Hicks Nov. 28, 1939 2,263,267 Franklin Nov. 18, 1941 2,351,887 Steadman June 20, 1944 2,450,934 Qaihomi Qc. 12,194@ 

